KYIV –- Russian drone strikes have struck a key Ukrainian government building for the first time since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began, Kyiv said.
The September 7 attack on Kyiv’s Cabinet of Ministers building was part of Russia’s biggest aerial assault on the Ukrainian capital since February 2022, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia fired some 800 drones and missiles at Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, killing at least three people.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an infant child, a young woman, and an elderly woman were killed, and over a dozen people were injured.
Klitschko added that several high-rise apartments had been set on fire in the capital by falling debris from Russian drones.
Kyiv’s Cabinet of Ministers building is home to Ukraine’s Cabinet, housing the offices of its ministers.
“For the first time, a government building was damaged by an enemy attack, including the roof and upper floors,” said Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
“We will restore the buildings, but lost lives cannot be returned.”
The attack on September 7 was the second major Russian drone and missile attack to target Kyiv in recent weeks.
The attacks have dimmed hopes for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending the ending Moscow’s three-and-a-half unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected an offer from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to travel to Moscow for peace talks and instead challenged him to come to Kyiv.
“He can come to Kyiv,” Zelenskyy told ABC News on September 6. “I can’t go to Moscow when my country’s under missiles, under attack, each day. I can’t go to the capital of this terrorist.”
The Ukrainian president added that Putin’s offer was intended to “postpone the meeting,” and that the Russian leader was “playing games with the United States.”
Putin had earlier downplayed the value of meeting with the Ukrainian president, but also suggested that he would be willing to meet with him, but only on home soil.
